


Carpe Diem

by Izhilzha



Series: In Fire, Some Say In Ice [3]
Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Reality, Friendship, Gen, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-05-15
Updated: 2008-05-15
Packaged: 2017-10-07 02:55:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 726
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/60670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izhilzha/pseuds/Izhilzha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What the "end of the world" might look like to Samantha Carter. Part 3 of a series of 5 linked ficlets.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Carpe Diem

"Come on, Carter, move!" Jack's hand yanks on her sleeve and she picks up her pace, bolting out of the 'Gate room after Daniel and Teal'c.

The door slides shut behind them, cutting off the shimmer of an open wormhole and the pulsing alarm of an overloading generator. "You realize, sir," she gasps, feet pounding the concrete," if this works, it's taking the whole top of the Mountain with it. Kinda pointless–" He shoves lightly between her shoulder blades, herding her through another set of steel doors. "Kinda pointless to try to find cover."

This is a dead end, a storeroom, and she turns to find Jack shrugging. "Yeah, well, I don't feel like sitting at ground zero today."

For some reason, that's the funniest thing she's heard all week. She grins at him. "Yes, sir."

"How long?" Daniel squints at her through dust-streaked glasses. He's the only one of them in civvies, because he'd been about to drive home when the lockdown started.

She glances at her watch, calculates back from the moment she pressed the button. "One hundred and . . . fifteen seconds."

Daniel blows out a shocked breath. She reaches over to pat his shoulder, but that doesn't seem like enough, and she ends up hugging him as tightly as she can. "Love you," she says, and feels her face growing warm, but it's the truth, and what else should she say right now?

Clearly, Daniel gets it. He hugs her back, says, "Me, too," and his tone is warm, amused.

Teal'c is standing next to them. In for a penny, in for a pound, Sam figures, so she stretches up to fling her arms around his neck and plants a kiss on his cheek. "Thank you," is what comes out of her mouth, and she's sure that's exactly right, even if she couldn't tell you what she's thanking him for.

One arm wraps around her, the other hand cups the back of her head. "No, Samantha Carter. My thanks to you."

"Hey." Jack sounds as unhurried as if they have more than a minute left to live. "Don't I get any?"

Sam turns around and he's grinning at her. "Any what, sir?"

"Any _Carter_." It only takes him one long step to reach her, and she doesn't think to stiffen her spine. The next thing she knows, she's bent backwards and supported by strong arms, and being very--_very_\--thoroughly kissed. For a moment she doesn't move, but hell, it's not like she hasn't thought about this herself, so she slides a hand behind his head and kisses him right back.  
.  
"Wow," she hears Daniel say. And when Jack lifts her back to her feet, Teal'c is smirking.

Still standing in the loose circle of Jack's arms, Sam asks him, "What was that for, sir?"

"It's 'Jack'," he tells her, and his lips twitch in a tiny twisted smile. "We're gonna be permanently retired in less than a minute, and who knows if we'd get to do that afterwards?"

"Jack, I thought you didn't believe in an 'afterwards'," Daniel says.

Sam swallows down a chuckle at his voice, at the air quotes he makes with his fingers, and even more at the roll of Jack's eyes as he ignores the question and asks, instead, "How much longer, Sam?"

She pushes back her sleeve. "Twelve seconds, s-- Jack."

Jack nods, then puts one hand between her shoulder blades, grabs the back of Daniel's neck with the other hand, and steers them into one solid concrete corner. Teal'c assumes a position opposite Jack, his hands likewise spread protectively around his other two teammates. "Down, everyone," Jack says, and pushes them into a crouch, all four of them together, Jack and Daniel and Teal'c and Sam.

His hand is warm on the back of her neck, Teal'c's just below it, Daniel's glasses glinting in front of her. But she can't think of anything else to say, and none of the others speak either. She's counting down internally, five, four, three . . .

"See you on the flip side," Jack says.

Daniel's head whips towards him. "Seriously, Jack, are you saying you believe in an afterli . . ."

Sam feels something bubbling up inside her, tears stinging her eyes, but the word and the laughter and their faces are all wiped away in one sharp rush of wind and light and fire.

**Author's Note:**

> This is a series of thematically linked fics, without many actual spoilers, all of them future-fics or AU in some way. Many thanks to V. Laike for her beta work, especially on the Supernatural installment.


End file.
